His shoes slapped the concrete, his body slicing through the wind; a vicious bark sounded to his right; he heard a sharp crack echo in the dark. He slowed at the sound of a shout behind him and turned his head. It was dark and the only light was from the flickering streetlight above. Still, he could see the body slumped on the sidewalk. His breath was labored already, but suddenly it felt like all the air had been punched out of him. He rushed back to his friend lying on the ground.
“Forrest, come on. You have to get up, we don’t have time,” he tried to grab Forrest’s arm and sling it over his shoulder but stopped at the groan of pain from his friend.
“No,” Forrest’s chest heaved and he gestured to his back, “You go, Charlie, get out of here.” Charlie turned him over slightly and saw the dark color of blood staining his shirt. Charlie shook his head before Forrest could finish.
“No! We can still make it, I’ll help you,” he jumped when he heard shouts nearby. A lump was starting to form in his throat and his sight was getting blurry.
“Charlie, you listen to me right now,” although his face was pale, colored yellow from the streetlamp, Charlie could still see the determined set of Forrest’s jaw and his eyebrows knitted together, “The blood is dark; I’m losing too much, I’m not going to last much longer. You take this,” he pushed the brown paper bag into Charlie’s hand, “and you survive. Go right now and don’t look back.” Forrest saw the resistance in Charlie’s eyes and sighed with frustration. “I have my phone, I’ll call for an ambulance once they’ve gone by. Just get out of here before it’s too late.”
Charlie was still uneasy, but the echoing sounds of running footsteps growing louder pushed him to get up. He set his jaw and grabbed Forrest’s hand, “I’ll see you around.” Forrest nodded and managed a small smile in return, hugging his phone to his chest. Charlie took off running; his mind and his heart momentarily able to convince him that everything would be all right soon. Just like Charlie, they didn’t know that Forrest’s phone had died two hours ago.
Forrest looked up to the night sky, focusing on the few stars he could see. He tried to hold on to the sound of Charlie’s footsteps receding to safety and smiled as the darkness flooded his vision.